quarta-feira, 6 de novembro de 2013

Donkeys in Art

             It is incredible to realize how often donkeys are depicted in Art. They are present in paintings, sculptures, stained glasses, etc.  It is really interesting to analyze the purpose or motive of donkeys’ representation and compare them between former and more contemporary forms of Art. 
             While searching, we can find several types of donkey depiction: terracotta sculptures, panels, tomb painting, medieval stained glasses… In fact, these animals were extremely typical throughout history. Arguably any layman can infer they played an important and significant role in each part of the world, in many different societies.    
      Below, we can appreciate a sculpture made during prehistoric period, a rustic representation of a donkey carrying panniers, found in Cyprus (an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, north of Egypt). This piece of art and of history is housed and exposed in the Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, in United Kingdom. Scholars and experts associate this depiction with donkeys’ primary and essential function at that time: as pack animals, helping in burden transportation of copper to the coast. Besides this model, others are commonly cited in history books, as evidence of settlement of some peoples along the northern Troodos (largest mountain range of Cyprus) and north coast. One more time, these animals supported historical studies and findings that helped deciphering important facts of societies’ development; in this case, related to valuable goods exploitation and commerce.


Terracotta model of a donkey, as a pack animal

          Indeed, donkeys continue to be a good model and vehicle for art expression nowadays. We can find some contemporary representations of these animals scattered throughout many countries. One that really caught my attention was an exhibition in Egypt as part of the 2013 Caravan Festival of the Arts, in Cairo, in which donkeys were adopted as its theme.                               
       The exhibition had the purpose of using a representative animal in that area as a parody of the “Cow Parade”, an art program originated in Zurich in 1998, where fiberglass cow sculptures decorated by many local artists are placed in public venues, such as parks, train stations, etc. Thence, donkey, as the symbol of peace and compassion in Christian and Muslim religions, were chosen the ideal animal. It counted with the participation of many artists, who provided the real sized and quarter-sized fiberglass sculptures and their cover painting and/or decoration.             
            Several donkeys were decorated by several points of view and interpretation of many different artists. Some of them received colorful covers and adornments, each one representing a specific message.


Donkey with horoscope symbols, angels, birds and flowers. The artist wanted to revive her childhood, bringing her peace and evasion of reality.


In the picture above the foreground donkey was decorated with symbols associated with rural Egyptian landscape of palm trees, courtyard houses, and pigeon towers. The background donkey represents a passage of Koran regarding religious intolerance: “Those that worship Allah but do not follow his laws are like a donkey which carries books and understands them not.” In other words, one cannot memorize the Koran without understanding it; otherwise, one will just hold information, not retain it.


In this sculpture the artist wanted to address the question “Am I slave or free?”, transforming the donkey into a wind-up clock.

  As we can see, donkeys can be represented in a realistic way, frequently observed in ancient forms of art, or as a customized symbol or vehicle for human points of view, expressions, questioning, criticism, etc.

Electronic Resources:
                Terracotta rustic donkey
                Terracotta rustic donkey [2]
                Egyptian panel
                Egyptian Contemporary Art Festival

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